Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, generator, gearbox, nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy from wind using known foil principles and transmit the kinetic energy through rotational energy to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades to a gearbox, or if a gearbox is not used, directly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
During operation of a wind turbine, each rotor blade can be subject to deflection and/or twisting due to the aerodynamic wind loads acting on the blade, which can result in reaction loads transmitted through the blade. A wind turbine can control these lodes using a pitch system that can pitch the rotor blades during operation. Pitching involves adjusting, such as rotating, a rotor blade about a pitch axis. Pitching of the rotor blade adjusts the loading that the rotor blade is subjected to during operation. In many instances, each rotor blade of a wind turbine is pitched to an individual pitch angle, which may be different from the pitch angles of other rotor blades in the wind turbine. Further, these angles may be constantly or intermittently adjusted during operation. Such pitching operation for the rotor blades beneficially allows for frequent adjustment of the loading experienced by the rotor blades.
A pitch system can include a pitch controller and a pitch adjustment mechanism. The pitch controller can receive signals indicative of a pitch angle setpoint from a turbine controller. The pitch controller can process these signals and provide them to the pitch adjustment mechanism. The pitch adjustment mechanism can then pitch the rotor blades based on the signals from the pitch controller to achieve the desired pitch angle.
In certain instances, it can be desirable to adjust the pitch angle setpoints provided from the turbine controller to increase or enhance energy production at various wind speeds and/or power. However, in some cases, it may be difficult to adjust the pitch angle setpoints at the turbine controller itself. For instance, the computer-readable instructions (e.g. source code) implemented by the turbine controller in executing various control routines for providing pitch angle setpoints may not be accessible or otherwise capable of being modified.
Accordingly, systems and methods for modifying pitch angle setpoints provided by a turbine controller to a pitch system would be welcome in the technology. For example, systems and methods that allow for adjustment of pitch angle setpoints provided by a turbine controller without requiring access or modification of computer-readable instructions implemented by the turbine controller would be particularly desirable.